Year-on-Year Growth Sees Broadband World Forum Move to Amsterdam in 2012

20 September 2011 – Next week’s Broadband World Forum 2011 is set to be the biggest yet, and with more than 7,500 delegates and visitors the organisers have today announced the show is moving to a new bigger venue from 2012.

Broadband World Forum 2012 will take place on 16 – 18 October 2012 at the Amsterdam RAI in the Netherlands. This new venue – for at least the next three years – will allow for a 35 per cent growth of the exhibition floor, including a new Cloud focussed exhibition hall, and a further expansion of the comprehensive speaker schedule.

The move has been widely welcomed by the local communications community, with messages of support already received from:
• Maxime Verhagen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, the Netherlands
• Eelco Blok, CEO of the Netherlands’ leading service provider, KPN
• Eberhard van der Laan, the Mayor of the Netherlands
• Jan Davids, Chairman of the Board, FTTH Platform Netherlands
• George Freriks, CEO of Dutch Media Hub

Broadband World Forum has experienced recent significant growth thanks to its enviable C-Level speaker programme and its successful exclusive Executive Leadership Summit. Gavin Whitechurch, director of the Broadband World Forum, comments: “Interest in the Broadband World Forum has grown significantly over the past decade, underlining how technological proliferation has propelled the rapid advancement of internet services.

“Broadband World Forum reflects how the industry has developed, and highlights the economic and social changes that broadband enables. We are pleased to be moving to a new location that not only provides great facilities and infrastructure, but is also a fantastic showcase of what can be achieved in a broadband economy.”

Welcoming the move to host Broadband World Forum 2012 in Amsterdam, Maxime Verhagen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, the Netherlands, said: “I am delighted that Amsterdam has been chosen as the new location for the Broadband World Forum. Hosting the world’s largest broadband event in our capital provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Netherlands as the Digital Gateway to Europe. We look forward to welcoming the global broadband community to our country.”

His thoughts are echoed by Eelco Blok, CEO of KPN, who said: “As the established leading global event in the broadband industry, the Broadband World Forum provides high level debate on how broadband can be advanced, and leveraged to the benefit of our society.

“The event provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the leadership of The Netherlands in broadband deployment. We welcome the opportunity to host Broadband World Forum in 2012 and beyond.”

Eberhard van der Laan, the Mayor of Amsterdam is proud that the City of Amsterdam has been selected as the host of the Broadband World Forum. He commented: “The selection of Amsterdam was based not only on the convenience of Schiphol – which offers a high volume of both long-haul and short haul airlift serviced, with its direct link to the RAI – our outstanding infrastructure, and our renowned hospitality.

“It was also based on Amsterdam as a Broadband Capital. Municipalities are increasingly becoming intrinsically involved in the deployment of broadband, in order to leverage the fundamental benefits that broadband can provide to their citizens. Amsterdam is a world leader in this regard, stimulating the provision of broadband to its residents both directly and through partnerships.

“We welcome the opportunity to share our experience as a leading broadband municipality, showcasing what is truly a Broadband World Capital.”

Jan Davids, Chairman of the Board, FTTH Platform Netherlands, Director, Corporate and Business Development, Reggefiber, said: “Bringing the global broadband community together gives us a great opportunity to learn from each other, to celebrated the success of broadband diversity, and to showcase how we at FTTH platform collaborate to enhance broadband penetration services”

George Freriks, CEO of Dutch Media Hub, said: “We are excited that the Netherlands has been recognised as a leader in the Broadband world. Hosting the Broadband World Forum presents a fantastic opportunity to share knowledge and experiences on how to build a digital gateway to Europe.”

The Broadband World Forum 2011 conference programme features more than 300 leading industry speakers, 200 exhibitors and over 200 international service provider case studies. Each day will start with a series of keynote sessions from a number of global industry executives, including Kevin Lo, General Manager at Google, Olivier Baujard, Chief Technology Officer at Deutsche Telekom Group, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s Shadow Minister for Broadband and Communications and Dan Taylor, Director of Innovation, British Gas Smart Homes.

Broadband World Forum has further secured its commitment to Amsterdam RAI by announcing the dates of the event for the next two years as 15 – 17 October 2013 and 21 – 23 October 2014.

Delegates and exhibitors who sign up for the 2012 Broadband World Forum will be able to take advantage of early bird discounts at this year’s event next week. To view the full 2011 event programme and register for the conference, visit the Broadband World Forum website http://www.broadbandworldforum.com.